Onoré-sho (writing as one likes)

Here’s an example of a Japanese calligraphy style that’s easy to do!

The style is called “onoré-sho”.

“Onoré” is an old-fashioned and rather forceful way to refer to oneself.

Onoré-sho emphasises a sense of freedom, doing things in one’s own way.

With onoré-sho the artist is free to play around with the relative size, shape and orientation of the characters, and even of the components within each character.

The only real guideline is that the characters fit together like a puzzle.

The end result is that it can be difficult to read at first glance – like a puzzle.

Can you read the example above?